Data-friendly YouTube Go launches in SA: here’s what you need to know

Well if you need more pimple-popping‚ movie-reviewing‚ beauty-vlogging videos in your life then this is good news for you. Google launched YouTube Go in South Africa on Thursday‚ an app designed to be lighter and more data-friendly.

“People in South Africa love YouTube‚ but the current app is too data-heavy for it to be usable to most viewers‚ who don’t have high speed and large capacity data plans‚ or free Wifi‚” Google Africa CMO Mzamo Masito said. “Now‚ the app is much lighter and nimbler‚ and you won’t have to wait for videos to load or buffer forever.”

Here’s what you need to know.

Video features:
It features a simple user interface‚ with a home screen that shows trending and popular videos nearby. It also has a preview function to make it easier to decide if you want to watch the video.

Save data:
It has been built with an ‘offline first’ philosophy so that it works even when there’s low or no connectivity. Users can save videos for offline watching and unlike in the main YouTube app‚ you can also choose what resolution to stream videos in to reduce data consumption.

Share:
Sharing videos with friends has also become easier – even if a user is offline. YouTube Go lets users wirelessly transfer videos to nearby devices‚ without using any data.

Where can I download it:
Download it in the Google Play store. It will also come pre-installed on all Android 8.1 (Go Edition) phones. Sorry iOS‚ this isn’t for you yet.